Fort Henry Mall owners share updates on IMAX theater, other projects

KINGSPORT — Owners of the Fort Henry Mall shared status updates Thursday on the IMAX theater, Rural King and other upcoming projects at the mall property.IMAX theaterJohn Mulherin, vice president of government relations with Hull Property Group, said contracts have been released to the architectural, mechanical, structural and civil engineering work.The RLS Design Group, based out of Atlanta, are slated to serve as architects for the project. Kingsport-based CainRashWest Architects will serve as the civil engineering lead.Mulherin said they expect to start construction before the end of 2023. It will be a nine-month construction schedule once the process begins."We anticipate construction of the IMAX to start in early December, maybe a little bit earlier than that, maybe a little bit later than that," said Mulherin. "It really depends on how you buy it out and things of that nature."The Times News previously reported the project would include a 7,000-square-foot standalone IMAX theater, 200 luxury recliner seats and a 70-feet-by-40-feet movie screen.A grand opening is expected by the end of November 2025."It's about a almost a year process to get IMAX up and running, but we're really excited about it," Mulherin said. "That's going to be really good for the mall and the citizens of Kingsport, and actually the region."The IMAX theater was originally slated for a spring/summer 2025 opening, but Mulherin said it took longer "getting the right architects and the right people in place to do the job."Plans for the IMAX theater were announced at a press conference in October 2023.Kingsport officials approved a package that will provide almost $2.8 million in incentives in November 2023. $500,000 of the incentive would be used to provide new sewer to Fort Henry Drive; the other $2.3 million would aid in the development of Rural King, the new theater and upgrading NCG Cinemas.Theater improvementsThe first phase of the improvements for NCG Cinemas will start with new luxury recliner seats added to the auditoriums. Mulherin said the seats have been ordered and could be installed at the end of the summer.He said that those installations could be delayed until November, once movie attendance starts to slow down. The seats would be replaced one auditorium at a time.Other improvements are also set to be made to the concessions area, allowing the theater to serve more alcoholic drinks.Rural KingMulherin said that Rural King officials recently visited the former JCPenney property, and interior demolition should start later this month. He said Rural King is expected to open in spring 2025."Now we don't own the property that was the former JCPenney property; we sold that to Rural King," said Mulherin. "I can say that Rural King did fly in on a helicopter last month. They brought their store planner and their head of construction that came in."The Times News previously reported that the city of Kingsport expects more than $25 million in sales annually from Rural King and the theaters.RestaurantsEggs Up Grill, New York Butcher Shoppe and a third future business were previously announced as tenants of a future outparcel at the mall.Mulherin said officials are looking at moving the location of the original outparcel for the three restaurants to another spot on the property to make room for what may become something bigger on the former Sears parcel.For more information about the Fort Henry Mall, visit www.forthenrymall.com.